Poe's Alcoholism Theory

Poe was an amazing author, and all he wanted was not to die alone, but sadly he did. Some people believe he did of alcoholism, others believed he died of rabies. Dr. Snodgrass believed the alcoholism theory, but Dr. Benitez believed it was rabies that killed Poe. It is most likely Poe died of encephalitic rabies because he had all the symptoms of rabies. Based on expert opinion Poe couldn’t have died of alcoholism. “Poe may have had problems with alcohol as a younger man… but by the time he died at forty he almost always avoided it” (Benitez 188). Even though Poe drank when he was younger he had stopped by the time of his death. In Dr. Benitez’s article, Mr. Jerome said that the writer was very sensitive to alcohol that one glass of wine would